Designers are Experts, Not Dabblers

This article was a great read – even if you have no desire to self-publishing. A quote from the article is below.

Designers have always been natural self-publishers. Who is better placed to experiment with publishing than a group with a professional command of the production process?

This article can be read as a description of designers, not only as self-publishers, but as self-doersofanything. Most of the best designers I know are creators at heart. To create with our hands, from scratch, from conception to execution, is exactly how we like it.

What I find interesting (and really appreciate) about designers, is the desire to be a self-doer doesn’t come from a need to control the process. I’ve never met a designer that had the attitude that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. For me, it’s curiosity, the satisfaction of work that is independently produced, and the game of challenging your own knowledge and abilities.

Which brings me to the title of this post, which is a direct quote from the article, “…designers are experts, not dabblers.” Even with abundant curiosities and an endless itch to conquer and create in every facet of life… we will ultimately surrender, give credit where credit is due, and respect a professional when we’re still in the stages of discovery. We don’t want to “dabble” or pretend to be good at anything. We want to master it. That is often how you can wield something to its highest creative potential – to know it inside and out.

There is a lot more to get from the article than what I’ve described here. Maybe get curious and give it a read.